I work at Central Library for 22 hours a week with an annual salary of £9,900. My latest pension prognosis is roughly £3,200 a year.

I get this at the age of 68 and after serving 35 years in my current job, I fail to see how this will leave me indecently well off in my old age.

I could try to get a full-time post. However, it seems wrong to me that I would need to place my two small children in someone else’s care for the most of their waking hours just to try to guarantee a decent pension.

It feels equally unpalatable to add my upkeep to their financial burdens in the future as at the moment it seems that my children will be paying off astronomical student debts and large mortgages long after I retire.

I love my job. I deeply respect the people I work with. I fully appreciate how vital library services are for people who use them.

I am being left with the unpleasant choice to disrupt the service or quietly accept poverty in old age.